Threat of Runaway Lorry After Brake Failure
An out-of-control lorry which smashed into an office and killed two women could have caused a “massacre”, a coroner said. Two women died when the 35-tonne truck crashed through the front of an estate agent’s office in High Wycombe on 14 June 2002. Buckinghamshire coroner Richard Hulett said it had been a lottery which of the many people out in the town centre would be hit when the lorry’s brakes failed at the top of a hill. The driver and his employers DE Transport have been summoned before Wycombe magistrates for failing to maintain the brakes and exceeding the weight limit on a vehicle.
The driver’s statement included that he told police the vehicle had had brake problems four to six weeks previously, but these had been fixed by a garage.
Sales Director Matthew Burke states “With BrakeCheck ( a modern day decelerometer) you have a hard copy print out that is time and date stamped to prove brakes are checked and are to the required braking efficiency, reviewing the above article its always easy to speak with hindsight but this is a warning for today’s vehicle operators to do their up most to check and report on BRAKES”.